NHSJobs.com

Job overview

We are seeking to recruit two Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) to join our Board of Directors and utilise their skills, knowledge and experience to help us to achieve our strategic ambitions and deliver great care for our patients.

We are looking for one Non-Executive Director with significant clinical skills and experience, who will be a member of our Quality Governance Committee and also undertake the important role of Board Maternity Safety Champion.

We are also seeking one Non-Executive Director with a sound knowledge of NHS finance who can support us to be as efficient and effective as possible, delivering value for money whilst striving to continue to enhance the quality of our services. This Non-Executive Director will be a member of the Finance and Performance Committee and will take over as chair of this committee once the current chair leaves in June 2025.

Please specify which role you are applying for in your supporting information on your application.

The Trust values the diversity of all staff and is committed to equality. Our Board of Directors should be representative of the people that we serve. We positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, gender, racial origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability including people who have experienced mental ill health.

Main duties of the job

We are looking for candidates who share our values and are passionate about delivering high-quality, compassionate and joined-up care to communities. Previous Board-level experience is desirable but not essential.

• Contribute to the development of core strategies, setting the strategic direction for the Trust.

   

• Seek assurance over the delivery of strategies, including the appropriate prioritisation of the Trust’s resource allocation.

   

• Providing constructive challenge and support as appropriate to hold the Chief Executive and Executive Directors to account and support effective decision-making as part of a unitary Board.

   

• Seek assurance over the performance of the Trust.

   

• Developing positive and productive relationships with the Council of Governors, supporting Governor colleagues to hold Non-Executive Directors to account for the performance of the Board. 

   

• Seek assurance that the patient voice informs the work of the Board.

   

• Be a visible leader, embodying the values of the Trust and its clinically-led and management supported philosophy.

Working for our organisation

At Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust we provide a wide range of acute, community and older peoples’ mental health services to our local community and beyond. We also provide a range of specialist services including bowel screening for a population of around 7 million people and specialist gynaecological cancer treatments from the Scottish Borders through to Cumbria and Whitby.

We employ over 5,100 people and have over 400 hospital beds across the Gateshead area. We have an annual turnover of around £400 million and our wholly-owned subsidiary, QE Facilities, provides a wide range of high-quality services to the Trust and other NHS organisations.

Our philosophy is that to achieve the best patient care and outcomes we must be clinically-led and management supported – this is an integral part of our approach to everything we do.

We have three main strategic ambitions: to be a Northern Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health; to be a leading provider of diagnostic services; and to be an outstanding district general hospital. We believe that by achieving these ambitions we will be able to make a valuable contribution to the healthcare of the people of Gateshead, but also to the wider North East and North Cumbria.

We are proud to be rated as ‘good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at our last full inspection. Our maternity services were inspected in 2023 and we were delighted to be rated as ‘good’ with a number of areas of outstanding practice highlighted.